


Two is a Nice Number!

by leeraiii



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: 2048, Carlos is a Dork, Domestic Fluff, Humor, M/M, the boys are being silly again i cant stop them im so sorry, the last tag is debatable however, yeah i mean that addicting number puzzle game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 07:32:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1337176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leeraiii/pseuds/leeraiii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos had been in the bathroom for half an hour before Cecil finally decided it was best to check on him.</p>
<p>His knuckles hovered over the wooden door before he inwardly berated himself for his hesitation. He had every right to check on his boyfriend if he had taken to suspiciously long bathroom breaks! What if he got attacked by those nomadic toilet piranha again?</p>
<p>Or</p>
<p>Where Carlos has an unhealthy habit of playing number puzzle games in the loo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two is a Nice Number!

**Author's Note:**

> Episode 43 gave me so much heartache I pooped this little monster out to hopefully abate the onslaught of feels I have for a severely injured floating cat.
> 
> Also because IM 1000% DONE WITH 2048 IM SEEING NUMBERS IN MY HEAD EVERYWHERE I GO.
> 
> Please check out the game [here](http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/) before continuing!

Carlos had been in the bathroom for half an hour before Cecil finally decided it was best to check on him.

His knuckles hovered over the wooden door before he inwardly berated himself for his hesitation. He had every right to check on his boyfriend if he had taken to suspiciously long bathroom breaks! What if he got attacked by those nomadic toilet piranha again?

However, Cecil’s worry vanished like a bubble pop when he heard a muffled string of curses float through the closed door.

Right. _Of course._

"Carlos, are you playing _Three’s_ again?"

Cecil heard Carlos’ scoff loud and clear through the mahogany door between them. “Of course not, Cecil. I have an _Android_.”

In Cecil's defense, the exasperated sigh he let out was rather justified. “Yes, right. How forgetful of me.”

“‘s okay, sweetheart,” was the distracted reply and then it was silent again.

"Sooo," Cecil drawled when it was clear Carlos wouldn’t be coming out of the bathroom without prompting, "Playing Fives then?"

No reply.

"Carlos."

"No, I’m not playing Fives, Cecil."

"2048, then?" Cecil said, leaning against the door with a small amused grin that said "I am only putting up with you right now because I love you so damn much I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world" playing across his lips.

"Hey, I like my numbers even!"

"Sugarplum, seriously. This is getting out of hand."

"Your pet names are getting out of hand."

“You don’t mean that.”

It was silent for a few beats and then Cecil heard Carlos sniff. “… Yeah, I don’t.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you’ve been there for almost an hour. Don’t you have to be at the lab to oversee cultures that don’t grow unless you look at them?”

“Nah," Carlos replied, "Got Nash to get me a mannequin, superglue’d googly eyes on the head and placed it right next to the set-up.”

“Oh! You’re so smart, Carlos.”

“Yeah, well, not smart enough to outsmart a stupid numbers game apparently...”

Cecil frowned. “If it’s so stupid, why play it?”

“Numbers, Cecil! The results of incremented exponents of the base two!”

“It’s just-”

“Which is a really nice number, don’t you think?”

“What, two? Well, yeah, I suppose it i-”

“Thesis and antithesis, descriptive and inferential statistics, constant and controlled variables, two eyes, two ears, two hands, two mugs of piping hot coffee set out on the table every morning, two toothbrushes in a cup by the sink, two copies of the same book on the bookshelves, Tom and Jerry, Lee and Carter...” Carlos trailed off in what Cecil now knew as either the _Thoughtful Carlos Pause_ ® or the _Disturb My Train of Thought and Die Pause_ ™.

“...You and me.” He concluded breathily, like he still just can't get himself to believe that very fact.

There was a big dumb grin on Cecil’s face. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, someone’s getting sentimental over a stupid numbers game.” Cecil also briefly wondered how amusing they must look getting sappy with each other with the bathroom door between them

“Sentimental, my butt. I’m minutes away from flushing my phone down the toilet.”

“Well, do that later. I gotta pee, darling.”

“Give me a sec, I just made it to block 1024 and the next biggest blocks I've got is a 256 and a 512. I’m so close!”

“Well I am, too!”

"Just a little more!"

"Carlos, please!"

"Do you have any idea how that entire exchange just now was extremely similar to the conversation we had last night?"

Cecil's miffed expression melted to a smug one. "You mean our 'conversation' in bed?" he drawled, pitching his voice an octave lower.

"Yeah," was Cecil imagining it or did Carlos' voice get rougher? "That was fun."

"Carlos," Cecil cleared his throat. God, he was not going to get sidetracked here! "I swear to the _ **Brown Stone Spire**_. If you don't open this door right now I'm-" Cecil didn't get to finish because Carlos suddenly whooped inside the bathroom.

Alarmed, Cecil rattled the doorknob. "Carlos?! Did you get bitten by the piranha again?" Cecil yelled, "I think I still have some ointment left over from last time!"

The door suddenly flung open and out stepped a widely grinning Carlos whose wide bright brown eyes appraised Cecil like he was the greatest damn thing that ever happened to him, knocking the breath right out of Cecil's lungs.

Carlos lunged, wrapping his lithe arms around Cecil's waist and then dipping him over backwards into a very passionate kiss which had Cecil throwing his arms around Carlos' shoulders in surprise.

Carlos immediately pulled him upright again, Cecil's mind still whirling from the kiss. He shook his head to clear it and was rewarded with Carlos' grin still plastered on his face.

"What was that for, dear Carlos?" Cecil inquired as he wrapped his arms around Carlos' waist, pulling him closer.

Carlos stood on his tiptoes to plant a kiss on Cecil's forehead before he held up his phone. In the display, Cecil saw a 4x4 board in the background of big white letters saying "You win!" and right there at the corner lowest left corner of the board was a highlighted yellow block that read 2048.

Cecil beamed back at the scientist. "Congratulations, Carlos!"

"Thanks, Ceec! And I uhhh-" Carlos faltered, eyes flicking to the sides before they traveled back up to Cecil's sheepishly. "I'm gonna make it up to you tonight. Dinner's on me, yeah? I think there's enough goat meat I can cook for _Caldereta_."

Cecil blinked back at Carlos in confusion. "Make it up to me?"

Carlos gestured towards the open bathroom. "Weren't you about to...?"

His protesting bladder made itself known and Cecil jolted, lurching for the bathroom.

Carlos laughed, "I'll see you tonight, alright?"

"Sure thing, Carlos!"

* * *

A few hours later, while Carlos was busy observing the different samples he had laid out on his workbench, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Deeming it safe to take his eyes off of the petri dishes, he took his phone out and swiped it open.

It was a text message from Cecil.

From: Cecil <3

Sent: 3:43PM

[I got something for you. :)](http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~b01902112/9007199254740992/) <3 <3

Blinking, he tapped at the screen, pulling up his internet browser as he did so.

When the page finally loaded, Carlos wept and didn’t get any science done for two days.

* * *

 

OMAKE:

From: Cecil <3

Sent: 3:43PM

[Here you go, you meme-loving scientist](http://www.crazygames.com/game/doge-2048) (◡‿◡✿).

Carlos wept and switched to a Nokia 3315.

**Author's Note:**

> I really do hope you enjoyed because I enjoyed writing this! 
> 
> Crossposted on my [tumblr](http://www.leeraiii.tumblr.com/post/80057000941/episode-43-gave-me-so-much-heartache-i-pooped-this).


End file.
